The Feud

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Do not expect any florid writing on the landscape of Essex and the east London suburbs. There is no time for that. This is strictly business. Bang, bosh, boom! The first book in a trilogy of the Mitchell's and the O'Hara's, when Jimmy O'Hara slashes Eddie, Eddie retaliates by beating Jimmy half to death with a baseball bat, there in is born a feud that lasts a life time. Both have kids and go their separate ways however fate brings both families together in a way neither could imagine with life changing consequences. This is a British thriller/drama/tragedy with several love stories. Had I known beforehand how it ended, I would have never start reading it. I’m glad I did though. It’s not for the faint hearted, that’s for sure. There was a whole cast of characters in the story, and a lot of them weren't the good kind. Considering all that was going on, it was kind of funny that the one who made me cringe the most was a mom & housewife, sort of. *I'm looking at you, Joyce*

Then we have Michael the youngest, dreams of becoming a mechanic but gets drawn into the families seedy world of crime. Unfortunately I can only think of one description for this book...tedious. The characters, plot, writing style and dialogue...all tedious. It felt like I was reading the screenplay to a very boring soap written for daytime telly. Vinny and Roy Butler are the apple of their mum’s eye. Queenie knows they can play dirty, but when it comes to family they look after business and make her proud. Nothing and no one can bring them down. Then the unthinkable happens, Vinny’s beautiful daughter Molly disappears. The Butler brothers depart on a frantic search for the little girl. They don’t know if their enemies have taken her, or if the kidnapping is revenge for what Vinny has done.There wasn’t anything the least bit normal about this family. My head spins just thinking about them. At the head of the Butler family we have Queenie. She’s the mum. Where Queenie was there was Aunt Viv. They were a couple of bad ass females that had me laughing and cringing. That said, it is a very gripping saga and I could not put it down. I'm beginning to realise that most books by this author are not necessarily about gangsters, but the effect their behaviour has on their victims, so you constantly find yourself gunning for them. But what I like most is that all her characters have depth and feel like real people, who you start to love or hate. One bloody night sets Vinny on the path of desperate vengeance, but will the Butlers emerge stronger than ever, or is the East End code of honour as good as dead? The apple of his mother Queenie's eye is Vinny the oldest of the brothers, suave, good looking and loves being told he looks like he has a touch of Italian and Irish in him, he has the looks and charm that women go weak for... but underneath he is manipulative, controlling, possessive and definitely has psycho tendencies..

Ah I loved this book! There is more to the family than Roy and Vinny but for a large portion of the book they are the main characters although Michael, the other brother, starts to come through strong. It is a story about strong family values amongst violence, murder, prostitution, sex, scandal and villainy. The story is split across an eleven year period and starts off in the mid 1960s. I love when a book is set in a time period and is researched well, from what they wore and drove to the music that was popular and played. As I was muddling through the first chapter of The Trap, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it but seeing as I was having a lot of “firsts” with this one I kept an open mind and it surely paid off. On one side are the Mitchells, a notorious underworld mob from East London's Canning Town. They have an iron in every fire and will resort to intimidation and violence to get what they want. When Stanley Smith's lovely young daughter, Jessica, announces that she is to marry Eddie, the son of mob boss Harry Mitchell, Stanley is horrified, but too afraid to stand in their way.The story is set in the 70's & 80's mostly in London's East End and the book's atmosphere is phenomenal, completely taking me that time and place. The plot and pacing are fantastic and the characters are vividly drawn, both good and bad. Eddie Mitchell was particularly well done for me. As bad as he was, there was also a lot good about him that made it really hard to hate him, most notably his love for his family and his wife, Jessica. It truly did break my heart for Eddie at the end. The one thing that was never in doubt was how much he loved Jessica and to find out that he killed her instead of Jed, oh my God. I cried. The book builds up so well that you know all hell is going to break loose at the end. The apocalypse in the Essex countryside is guaranteed but boy does it still hit hard when it does happen.

The Butlers....set in the heart of London's East End.......it tells the trials and tribulations of the Butler Family. With her mother dead and father in prison, Frankie Mitchell goes to live with her fiancé Jed O’Hara. When her daughter is born, her fiancé’s mother becomes domineering and overbearing. Meanwhile, Frankie ignores the rumors that her beloved fiancé is cheating on her. Damn, I need a drink. This book pulled me every which way and then really chewed me up at the last. I'm really quite surprised at how sad I feel over the ending. It was then I knew that I’d finally found my vocation in life. I mad very little notes, other than some character names. After I finished each chapter, the next came easy.” With the encouragement of friends, Chambers bought a copy of the Writers and Artists Year Book and scrolled through the list of agents.The Mitchell's....notorious East End gangster family are at war and have a long standing FEUD with the O'Hara's a typical travellers family. Queenie and Vivian are sisters. Queenie rules the Butler Empire ... well at least she thinks she does. Her four children love her and she loves them. Vinny, Roy, Michael, Brenda - some of them likeable enough characters but mostly not so much, especially Vinny and Brenda, the heifer. Albie Butler, the dad, really didn't have much say in the family. Kimberley really captured the setting as well and the whole thing felt incredibly realistic. The pubs, the locations, Whitechapel, the mentions of music etc you really felt as if you were inside the story with the characters. Kimberley's books also have lots of humour in them and there were plenty of funny moments in this book. She definitely has a way with words and that really helped bring the characters to life.

Anyway, the story starts with the introduction of several characters, plots, subplots and sub-subplots, which takes some concentration to wrap your head around. The main characters include the Walker family who recently opened a café in 1960's Whitechapel and the matriarchal Butlers sisters, Queenie and Vivvy with their offspring. Queenie's gangster wannabe sons Vinny and Roy feature prominently in the start of the book and over the space of a few weeks, Vinny's crimes seem to escalate which forms the basis on the main plot. They adored Queenie and what she said went.......the eldest Vinny would do anything for he's mother, anything!!There are also numerous characters that add another layer to the story which stretches over the following months and years. Vinny, Roy and their younger brother Michael are quite different. As their younger brother Michael starts to make more of an appearance as the story progresses I realised that he was one of my favourites. This book has so many plot threads going on but it’s easy to keep up as you become engrossed with the different families involved in different elements of the story. It’s actually pretty hard to review parts of the story as it could be a major plot spoiler. The main element to this story is Vinny Butlers dangerous personality. He’s a man that’s used to getting his own way, and when he starts to make bad decisions, it’s his own family that he ends up putting in danger. Caught between these two families at war, are two innocent children, who will grow up to love the wrong people and spark the last terrible act in the long-running feud. 1988 was a happy year in many people's lives. Some called it The Rave Year, others The Second Summer of Love. For Eddie Mitchell and his family it is neither. 1988 is the year in which his whole dangerous, violent world explodes around him. What a horrible bastard, cold mean callous bastard.....but what a great character Ms Chambers created.....hated HIM....really, really HATED him. The best book I will read this year. I first discovered Kimberley Chambers last year when I read The Feud, the first in a trilogy. I then read the following two books over the course of a week finishing the last book at 6 in the morning as I couldn't go to sleep until I had reached the end. I have read her other books and I really enjoyed them however the trilogy was just fantastic. The Schemer was the next book Kimberley wrote after completing the trilogy and after the move to a new publisher and whilst that book was fantastic I thought the trilogy was still her best work. Then last week I was introduced to the Butlers, and that all changed. I could easily have read this book in one sitting however I have dragged it out over the last week and I have to say I think that made me enjoy it more because it's like when you watch a TV show which ends on a cliffhanger, if you watch all the episodes at once there's none of the excitement of waiting for the next one.